Barn Dance: Nickers, Brays, Bleats, Howls, and Quacks: Tales From the Herd, by Anna Blake started out as a blog. I am glad she decided to gather them into a book as this was a fun read. Part animal anecdotes, part philosophy on life and aging, part advice on animal care (and the art of mucking) ... all done with a nice dash of humor. (Do note that the author rescues animals with health and/or behavior issues, so expect some more difficult reading, too).

Medicine interests me. It's one of those subjects about which I like to know something, but not too much. ;-) For that, The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth and Other Curiosities From the History of Medicine, by Thomas Morris, was just about perfect. The author was reading a rather dull article about heart disease (from the 19th Century) when he spotted something of interest concerning an accident and a rather unusual injury. He went on to gather together information about medicine from the past, how it was diagnosed, how it was treated, in some cases how it happened, etc. I liked his non-judgmental style and his reminders as to what was done was what was best known at that time, however odd it sounds to us today.

Reading Hermit With Dog